jonathan karl, abc news, panama city, florida. >> jon karl with the picture on the ground.ur thanks to jon tonight. i want to bring in our senior white house correspondent, jake tapper, in washington tonight. you're aware of this republican scorecard, if you will. take a look at this. when it comes to newt gingrich, the side opposing him is growing. you have bob dole, john mccain, and chris christie. supporting newt, although not formerly endorsed him, sarah palin all by herself. what is the establishment so worried about, jake? >> reporter: there's two things going on. mitt romney is, without question, the establishment candidate. he was the next in line, as was dole in 1996, as was mccain in 2008. he was the next in line for the nomination. many establishment republicans here in town in washington believe he has the best chance to defeat president obama. the other thing going on are those who served with gingrich and are worried, legitimately, about his discipline and ability to beat president obama. so, some of this is just business, same kind of endorsement attacks that

let's begin in panama city, florida. peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign. peter? >> reporter: kate, good evening to you. the campaign officials believe what the campaign is doing is working. they say the candidate has a renewed focus after his loss in south carolina. and has done a better job being more aggressive, consistently against newt gingrich and emphasizing their belief that he is the best candidate to improve the american economy. mitt romney says he's feeling like the front-runner again. >> i just feel that things are going in our direction. i'm hoping for a big turnout on tuesday. and i think we're going to win here. i sure hope so. >> reporter: in front of a packed crowd along pensacola's famed shores, romney focused on the president and mocked newt gingrich's complaints about the crowd participation in last debates. >> speaker gingrich said he didn't do so well because the audience was so loud. the one before he didn't so well because the audience was too quiet. it's like goldilocks, got to have it just right. >> reporter: and then there was an all-ou

he is north in panama city. >> we're here in panama city at precinct 8. it's in the distance behind us, but you can't even get there without seeing these election signs. that one for romney, that one back there for newt gingrich, those two fighting desperately for the vote here and across the state. i spoke with sandy hubbard. she is the precinct clerk, and she tells me 245 people have cast votes at this voting place so far. that's relatively light, but when you consider the fact, brooke, that about 632,000 floridians have already cast their votes in absentee ballots, that's not a lot left. a number of candidates have visited the past two days trying to win support here, and mitt romney won this county in 2008, narrowly beating out john mccain. brooke? >> what's interesting, and you pointed out some of the early absentee voting, is the fact that 600,000 or so have already cast their votes, but also one out of four floridians undecided. did you talk to people as they went in? do they seem to know? do they own the vote? >> because it's so light here, there

first to jan in panama city. jan, good evening to you. >> reporter: well, good evening, maurice. sounding confident today, an energized mitt romney took his message and his allies right into the heart of what many say should be gingrich country. that's the staunchly conservative florida panhandle. >> i will fight with all my energy to keep america the strong nation it's been and the hope of the earth and the shining city on the hill. >> reporter: in pensacola, romney was greeted by big crowds and conservative supporters like shirley mccraw. >> we need somebody that has good morals and we need somebody as a role model. >> reporter: for mccraw, that candidate is romney, not newt gingrich. >> it seems to me that every time he gets a new wife, he gets a new part of his religion. >> reporter: at a ship building yard in panama city romney hit gingrich on ethics charges when he was house speaker. >> he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. >> reporter: that message is resonating with panhandle voters like francis johnson. >> we all forgive, we do, but i just ca

for the romney campaign this time because they signed again people like speaker allen benz from panama city, former house speaker very well respected in the republican party here, john thrasher, former state party chairman and now state senator from the jacksonville area. very involved on the part of mitt romney. now president of the american conservative union was very involved with the romney campaign, particularly in recruiting hispanic leadership. the task was to get the governor known here and to make people ameanable to listening more about him. one of the challenges in 2008 is that the resources again were not there. and it made it much more difficult to campaign in a state the size and expense of florida this time in 2012. i think the romney campaign has wisely planned to invest resources in florida. en that did so early. the romney campaign was actually running paid advertising in florida three to four weeks prior to the florida primary. so before the south carolina contest, they were on the groundment they were running advertising. they were organizing. they have a topnotch team h

if you're watching on wjhd, beautiful panama city, florida. explore the 20th century japan in woven and wrapped at the pens cola museum of art. that is your "early today" event of the today. >>> here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. >>> when it comes to wedding bells, aretha franklin put hers on hold. the 69-year-old queen of soul put off per summer wedding. she and her groom to be felt they were moving a little bit too fast. >>> chris brown is shutting down rumors he and rihanna are back together insisting he is dating an up and coming model. >>> finally, katherine heigl who ended her run on "grey's anatomy" a few years ago to pursue her movie career says she wish she hadn't. she is possibly approaching the show on possibly returning. i don't know if you caught any of those heigl movies she did. i'm the only one that enjoys those bad romantic comedies. >> a lot she has been in. >> didn't work out so well. >>> wmbs news in myrtle beach, south carolina, mud slinging doesn't involve mud but sand. a hundred women fro

in panama city, romney questioned how effective gingrich will be based on his past leadership. >> -euro-sign for ethics violations and ultimately had to resign in disgrace. you cannot rewrite history. >> despite the fact he trails in the polls, he says this campaign will not end here. the gop hopefuls have three more days to make an impression on florida voters. >> late developments tonight in another candidates campaign. rick santorum canceled his events tomorrow morning to be with one of his children. his three-year old daughter is in the hospital due to eight genetic condition. iraqis stand up for the san francisco 49ers is charged with driving under the influence. police arrested off in smith last night and he is due in court tomorrow. he was the seventh overall draft pick at the university of missouri last year. during his first season he had 14 socks, of franchise record for the linebacker. in the statement, the 40 niners say, we take these issues very seriously but we will reserve further comment at this time as this is an ongoing legal matter. an 81 -year-old woman who was detained a

tallahassee and panama city and as far as what we are dealing with, this is all rain even up to the ohio valley. temperatures plenty warm through kentucky and a shield of rain covering you. the next 48 hours, all of this rain is going to begin to spread to the east later on today through d.c. and virginia, tonight and thursday through southern new england. the only areas cold enough for wintry precip and snow is central and northern new england. the mountain areas and the ski resorts will get snow out of this. the predicted rainfall together, new york city 1.5 and d.c. close to an inch and same for pittsburgh. significant rain event but will not cause problems for severe storms. once the costorm goes by, the cd air wraps into it. our computers think we will get significant shows, chicago, milwaukee, madison and possibly northern portions of wisconsin and the snow in northern new england. we will talk about that tomorrow. that is not a today's forecast but more for your wednesday. your wednesday's forecast rain in the southeast and rain in tennessee and southern ohio valley and the cold a

. >> reporter: at a ship building yard in panama city romney hit gingrich on ethics charges when he was house speaker. >> he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. >> reporter: that message is resonating with panhandle voters like francis johnson. >> we all forgive, we do, but i just cannot vote for a man with that kind of baggage. >> reporter: now, with supporters like that, romney was sounding even more optimistic this afternoon. after his event here, he sahd he thought things were going in his direction and that he was going to win on tuesday. now here's my colleague dean reynolds with the gingrich campaign. >> reporter: jan, i'm here in orlando with gingrich, and he is well aware that the polls here in florida show him down, but he likes to point to other surveys which have him ahead of mitt romney by six to nine points nationally. arguing that he is the true conservative in the race, gingrich took the fight to romney and the republican establishment. >> under the elites, the people who oppose me,some in the democratic party, some in the republican party, un

shannon travis in panama city beach. shannon, you just met two very interesting voters.did they say to you? >> absolutely, wolf. two voters just moments ago who were walking out of this precinct, precinct 8 here in panama city beach. one of them was a 72-year-old man who said he's lived in the area for ten years. i asked who did you vote for. he said ron paul. you know wolf, that's interesting because ron paul hasn't been actively competing in florida. certainly not in this area that's heavily republican area. i asked him if he thought that his vote would have an impact seeing as though dr. paul is not campaigning here. he said yes that it's a vote for smaller government, ending the fed and liberty. and the other person you mentioned that was interesting was a woman. her name was jeanne toms. a mother. she had her son. she said going into this polling location she couldn't make up her mind who to actually vote for. . that's one vote for mitt romney. hopefully some of mitt romney's other supporters are coming here with a little bit more form of support. wolf? >> shannon,

mitt romney in pensacola, florida and followed the former massachusetts governor as he rolled into panama city. romney is crisscrossing the state, as he surges in the polls. the latest survey shows him with a 9-point lead over newt gingrich. romney's attacking the former speaker of the house over his past leadership. >> he was fined for ethics violations. he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't re-write history. >> reporter: but gingrich says he's the only one who can beat president obama in november. >> we nominate a moderate, we are in real trouble. it's that simple. >> reporter: gingrich vows a loss here won't mark the end of his campaign. >> i will go all the way to convention. i expect to win the nomination. >> reporter: newt gingrich is courting hispanic voters to help regain some momentum before tuesday's primary. but for republicans like edwin martinez, it's not an easy choice. he's stuck between gingrich and rick santorum and says it may come down to the former speaker's position on immigration. >> i know that he has a plan in place or some ideas in place to kind of help peo

romney in pensacola, florida and followed the former massachusetts governor, as he rolled into panama city. romney is crisscrossing the state as he surges in the polls. the latest poll shows him with a 9-point lead over newt gingrich. romney is attacking the former speaker of the house over his past leadership. >> he was fined for ethics violations. he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. >> reporter: but gingrich says he's the only one who can beat president obama in november. >> if we nominate a moderate, we are in real trouble. it's that simple. >> reporter: gingrich vows a loss here won't mark the end of his campaign. >> i expect to win the nomination. >> reporter: newt gingrich is hoping to court hispanic voters to help regain momentum before tuesday's primary. >> reporter: but for some like edwin martinez, it's not an easy choice. he's stuck between gingrich and rick santorum and say its may come down to the former speaker's stance on immigration. >> i know he has plans in place to help immigrants become legal citizens. >> reporter: in orlando, florida, dan

in panama city, romney questioned how effective gingrich will be based on his past leadership. >> hee for ethics violations. he also had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. >> despite the fact he trails in the polls, gingrich says his campaign won't end here if he loses. >> i will go all the way to the convention. >> the gop hopefuls have three more days to make an impression on if on florida voters. >>> just heard, newt gingrich will stay in the race until the national convention this summer. even if he loses in florida. >>> thousands of people turned out in st. louis for the country's first big parade to welcome home iraq war veterans. several hundred veterans dressed in camouflage marched down the streets today. along with marching bands, politicians, even the budweiser clydesdales. >> it's such a big deal to the people who do this. and i think we should honor them more. >> to st. louis, men launched their grass roots efforts to hold that parade after noticing there wasn't a parade celebration. >>> quite a sight this morning in annapolis, maryland. lesli brown, the fi

we are in panama city, florida. while we wait for his arrival, we will look at a preview of the tuesday florida primary now. the voters in the state and different issues that affect different parts of florida, and also a history of past presidents of primaries in this state. we will come back to panama city as soon as mitt romney arrives. host: but the florida primary, our topic for the next 45 minutes. joining us, the university of south florida political science professor. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> in the days leading up to next week's primary, what particularly are you looking at as far as science about who will win and who will be victorious? >> a lot of people do not like to talk about polls as being meaningful, but they are, and we have seen a shift in momentum since the campaign came to florida, and mitt romney is a little bit on the up right now. newt gingrich lost a little ground. this week it will be critical for some of those undecided voters. candidates are combing the stat

. >> in panama city, romney escalated his attacks. >> he was fine but eth -- he was fined and he ultimatelyigned in disgrace. >> in a one of a kind ad, they attacked gingrich using an nbc news report from 1997. >> they have asked the romney campaign to stop running the ad but one advisor told us they plan to keep running it until tuesday's primary in florida. gingrich campaign said the ad is misleading because gingrich was cleared of wrongdoing two years later. >> carolyn: newt gingrich says he is not giving up on this week the former house speaker renewed his vow to challenge romney for the nomination all the way to the republican convention. >> this is going all the way to the convention. clearly the conservatives and grassroots are increasingly angry how the washington establishment has rallied the complete dishonesty. some of the attacks may have been breath takingly dishonest, and conservative are going to come together and decide whether they want a massachusetts liberal to be the republican nominee. >> they complained that romney's campaign has a basic policy of carpet bombing his op

both are making multiple campaign stops to connect with florida voters, romney in pensacola and panama city. check out gingrich's schedule. very busy. stuart, port st. lucie, brooksville, winter park and west palm beach. even though gingrich is still riding a wave of support from his big win in south carolina, a new poll shows she has groundwork to do. a new poll shows romney in the lead at 38.7%, seven points ahead of the former speakerer receiving the support of 31.5% of voters. as always, these numbers could change drastically before tuesday as undecided voters make up their minds. >> it may seem like the gop candidacy is a two-man race now. but rick santorum says he isn't quitting any time soon. the former pennsylvania senator returned to the philadelphia area for a fund raiser last night. he told reporters when he arrived he hasn't had any discussions for dropping out and will be in the race for quote a long long long time. he scored a surprise win in the iowa caucuses but since been beat out both by romney and gingrich in south carolina. >>> presidential hopeful ron paul is defending

. >> reporter: the painting in panama city, mitt romney escalated his attacks on newt gingrich. >> he was fined for ethics violations. he had to resign in disgrace. >> reporter: in an one of a kind ad, the romney campaign attacked gingrich using nothing but an nbc news report. >> they found him guilty of ethic violations. >> reporter: nbc has asked romney to stop using the ad. but one romney adviser told abc news they plan to keep running it until tuesday's primary in florida. gingrich campaign said that the ad is misleading. because he was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing two years later. gingrich still has a solid eight-point lead in the latest gallup poll, that's another reason the gingrich campaign will continue no matter what happens in the primary here on tuesday. >> jon karl reporting. >>> let's break this down with abc's senior white house correspondent jake tapper. who's filling in for george stephanopoulos on "this week." jake, good morning to you. so, herman cain, a few days ago, he endorsed the american people on stage with colbert. now it's newt gingrich. does this endors

you can see mitt romney live from panama city, florida, newt gingrich and allen west of florida will also appear in palm beach county. you can see that live at 8:00. you should go to our c-span site for all the latest information on campaign 2012 in our first 45 minutes president obama laid out his details of helping college students. we're interesting of hearing from you about the best way to make college affordable. if you are a college student, going to, in, or just left. starntse. and if you are a member of a faculty or administrator. all other ks give us a call. you can reach out to us on e-mail and you can also reach us on twitter as well. to talk about the details of the plans which he unveiled in part at the state of the union event and an event in michigan as well. here's some of the highlights from the white house about the president's plans to make college affordable. it would first and foremost start with reforming student aid programs. it would go to adding new incentives for states and colleges to keep costs under control. it would invest $55 million in competitions muc

there was a security alert under way near panama city, florida, specifically at the tyndall air forcekdown. the public affairs officers there are telling us quote, we do have a security incident. we do not have the details on what that entails. that's all they are telling us right now. but it is on lockdown that air force base, tyndall air force base. when we get more information on that lockdown and what started that we'll bring that to you. >>> meantime let's talk about airline ticket prices. they are about to go up. how you might benefit? reynolds wolf explains in this week's on the go. >> reporter: next week new airline rules go into effect and well immediately increase the advertised price for your next flight. >> when you see ticket prices going up that's good news. it has the inclusion of fees and taxes. now you'll 0 know in advance. >> reporter: the department of transportation is adding these rules. >> you have to know and have every advantage in knowing exactly what every charge is, what you're paying for, and what the bottom line will be. >> reporter: airlines will also be

. >>> a security alert that put the tyndall air force base near panama city, florida on lockdown is overdomestic call of a man with a gun caused that lockdown. the man was apprehend and the incident is now over. tyndall air force base is there in the florida panhandle. >>> a class action lawsuit filed against the company that makes skechers shoes, lisa bassett is one of the plaintiffs in the shoes. she claims they left her with some serious injuries. 36 other people claim they were injured too and part of that suit. our cnn legal contributor avery friedman weighed in. >> the key that holly and the class which she represents will have to undertake is to look at the so-called safety tests that were undertaken by sketchers. this is exactly the reason why the federal trade commission whacked reebok with about $25 million in fines because the question of the science. this usually affects women 40 and over. there's a real question of whether or not there are defects, it's a products liability case. we'll find out in discovery when the safety tests emerge. at that point we'll be able to judge w

and in panama city beach, on the west close of florida.port st. lucie and up to orlando, and rick santorum. he's out of the state and cares about florida, but realizes there are other states down the road, so he's going to be joined to nevada, focusing on it. and ron paul does the same thing up in maine today. and payne's caucus actually starts next saturday. so, here in tampa, no one really cares downtown about the campaign and the candidates. they're all dressed up in pirate gear and hear the canons going off, i hope and it's called gasperilla. half a million people. lots of alcohol and totally debauchery and as far as the republican candidates, they can all walk the plank. >> clayton: some guy-- >> right. >> clayton: i heard someone in the background yell, tv! >> is that what i heard. >> alisyn: fascinating. >> clayton: they're very observant. >> dave: they said surrender the booty. >> the gasperilla festival into phil, check it out if you don't mind. >> dave: just for journalistic purposes. and up nine points in florida, but nationally

library to a white house coverage continues from florida today with a mitt romney campaign rally in panama city beginning at 1:45 p.m. eastern and we will take you live to republican presidential candidate if newt gingrich's speech at the palm beach county republican party lincoln day dinner in west palm beach at 8:00 p.m. eastern. that is all today here on c- span. >> republican presidential candidate newt gingrich and mitt romney spoke at the hispanic leadership network, an advocacy action group focused on engaging the hispanic community and conservative policy issues. former florida governor jenna bush and carlos gutierrez our conference cochairs. the republican primaries next tuesday and will begin with newt gingrich, this is 25 minutes we had a slightly more modest group downstairs and i thought i would come up here and see if the rest of you would like to join us. you would like to join us. we had folks from louisiana, for may council. i am thrilled. we have developed here in miami nine years ago. we have had a c thank you very, very much. we had a slightly more modest group downstairs wh

scott kent of the news herald covers the panhandle, joining us from panama city.ake sure we can hear each other as well. that's good safety measure. good to see you, gentlemen. let's talk of the priorities of the electorate there. scott, let me begin with you and how traditionally, you know, what kind of messages the panhandle might want to hear. >> well, this is a very conservative area, more conservative than most of the rest of the state and much more southern in culture. it is known as l.a., which stands for lower alabama. and we're talking mostly west of tallahassee. once you get to tallahassee, that's more moderate to liberal. in the panhandle, the western part of the panhandle, much more conservative, much more southern, very much anti-big government, very much a tea party part of the state, tea party was very big here. against obama care, limited government, low taxes, more -- in many ways a lot more like south carolina was. >> okay, so there is some real parallels you see, south carolina for the pan handle. not the case in south florida. sergio, that's yo

question -- >> you can find the rest of this conversation online at c- span.org as we take you live to panama city, fla., for a mitt romney rally. he is at a company that builds and repairs ships. i believe that was one of the reasons why in the debate here in tampa both of the candidates town down their rhetoric. the other thing, of course, a jeb bush had cautioned about was a hard line on immigration. he is fluent in spanish. he is very sensitive to latino issues and has warned the party not to get too far down the line on this one, because we want to be a welcoming party. i think you saw the candidates in the thursday debate town down the rhetoric. in each instance, you can see the hand of jeb bush, kind of cautioning the candidates about how to campaign in florida. host: almost every paper mentioned marco rubio this morning. guest: he is also beloved because he is seen as the up- and-coming person who can move the party in the right direction in terms of immigration. he is seen as a rising star. i can tell you truthfully the most common conversational game at any get the rain is rubio as a vic

. >> reporter: campaigning in panama city, mitt romney escalated his attacks on newt gingrich. talking about the time he was reprimanded in 1997. >> he was fined for ethics violations. he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. >> reporter: in an one of a kind ad, the romney campaign attacked gingrich using nothing but an news report from 1997. >> they found him guilty of ethic violations. >> reporter: nbc has asked the romney campaign to stop running the ad. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> reporter: but one romney adviser told abc news they plan to keep running it until tuesday's primary in florida. >> thank you, good luck and god bless you. >> reporter: gingrich campaign saying the ad is misleading because he was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing two years later. gingrich may be down in the polls here in florida, but nationally, he has a solid eight-point lead in the gallup poll. that is another reason the gingrich campaign will continue no matter what happens here in the primary tuesday. dan? >> jon karl reporting. from florida this morning, thank you. had >>>

interesting to see if romney can really show some signs of strength in and around places like pensacola, panama citye and jacksonville. >> and jeff zeleny, one race, these are the ten closest counties between mccollum and rick scott in 2010. what's been fascinating is ideologically, the whole idea of the insurgent versus the establishment in a florida republican primary. we just saw this primary take place in 2010, but there's been two big differences. one is money, and that is, rick scott was the one with money four years ago. >> right. >> no question. >> and the insurgent this time, it's mitt romney. and it seems to be a little bit of message, even, somewhat, where rick scott did have one message he was driving home all the time, jobs, jobs, jobs. newt gingrich not so much. >> not so much at all. and you're right about the rick scott thing. it's kind of a bizarre change of roles here. you see a bill mccollum introducing newt gingrich at a lot of his rallies. he was the establishment candidate back then up here in the florida primary of 2010. but the rick scott analogies don't line up for newt beca

. >> now, mitt romney holds a campaign rally in panama city florida three days before the gop presidentialmary. he criticizes president obama as energy policies and also took aim at his primary opponent newt gingrich for his previous ethics violations. this event is about 35 minutes. ♪ ♪ panama, panama, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ >> how about it? [applause] are you ready for some change? are you ready for some mitt romney? welcome, northwest florida. thank you for showing up today at eastern shipbuilding. let's give it up for bryan. brian, where are you at? folks, this is the ground zero of where north florida is going to make the difference in picking the next president of the united states of america. god bless you all for showing up. i want to introduce you to our host, the owner of this beautiful facility. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen and employees of east building ship group, welcome to the nelson street facility, and more importantly, will come on this beautiful saturday afternoon to this relatively impromptu rally for the republican presidential candidate, the next president of america

they highlight jacksonville, fort myers, and panama city, amongst others.ose areas are just as strong for mr. romney this time around, or as mr. gingrich managed to steal some away from those sections? guest: i think always, there's inroads to be made, and you cannot quite compare 2008. i think there is a lot of difference because the economy is so much worse in florida than it was in 2008, even though there we had seen the beginnings of the recession. the truth of the matter is florida is a state that is used to leading the country out of the recession. now, we have been lagging behind in recovery, so what you see in some of those areas is a tremendous amount of anger at washington. for some people, they like gingrich because he basically screams at washington. he is basically their megaphone. in other places, they prefer romney because he is more of a business person. if you look at florida's senior vote, which certainly in the southwest area you were mentioning, seniors are more likely to be invested in the market, a little bit better educated here than

san diego, panama city, the bronx, charlotte and bellevue to provide those transitional skills for these young men and women so they can be part of our civilian labor force moving forward. we know that is critical. recently we announced an expansion with president obama where we get about 10,000 free vouchers for online trading in a variety of tech fields so you can become a certified whatever you want to be. because we know there are jobs to be had in communities around the country as we know they don't start at minimum wage. those jobs i mentioned the average starting point is 1 hundred thousand dollars. if we are looking to see where the dogs are, help young men and women, we think the the the highest paying jobs and the ones that are most available across a broad spectrum of communities around the country. the other thing we develop is something called intellect decoder. i talk about the sharpshooter earlier. how does the sharpshooter figure out what jobs he or she may be qualified for the civilian sector? we developed a military decoder. that sharpshooter put their military classifi

mitt romney is expected to hold a campaign rally in panama city. it looks like it will start a little late in the day. we will bring it to you as soon as it does. later, a speech by newt gingrich. that will be at 8:00 eastern time from west palm beach. before we go to the mitt romney events, we will take a look at the florida primary and the president's campaign schedule and your phone calls from earlier today. host: as always, there is a lively conversation going on on twitter. we will work in the tweets. we will start by going over some of the stories of the day. we will start with obama's weekly address today. he has been on the road ever since the state of the union on tuesday talking about the plan he presented to congress. the president traveled to five battleground states. it is a travel schedule that the republicans are calling a campaign schedule. the president says, i took the blueprint across the country. people believe in the america that is within our reach. they are not sure that the right thing will get done. gumming up the works for

in the panhandle, at event this morning he had senator mccain onboard, up in pensacola, down to panama cityst, and the beautiful beaches there this afternoon. newt gingrich began the day on the east coast of florida, with a lincoln day breakfast, talking about he thinks republican party out to stand for science and technology in the future. of course, tea partyers don't want to see a huge investment in pretty much anything right now. they want to see cutting everything, spending, slashing it, and where does the tea party stand in florida now? they're pretty much evenly divided in support of romney and gingrich. santorum is out of the state of florida today. he mentioned he had to deal with his taxes. he's in d.c. for a fund-raiser there. and ron paul is up in the state of maine today, having a town forum and maine has its caucus next saturday. so it's a long road ahead. santorum and paul looking forward. right now romney and gingrich really trying hard to win florida. gingrich said south carolina was a great up step future him but he really wants to win florida some he's got a lot of making

you can see that mitt romney did extremely well in jacksonville, for myers, and panama city.ok in orlando, better in tampa, not very well in miami and fort lauderdale. this is from 2008. he lost the state debt john mccain with an all-important endorsement by charlie crist. that helped john mccain in his win over mitt romney. what changed four years later? guest: a couple things. primarily in south florida where mitt romney has spent a lot of time and a lot of big-name endorsements, essentially all the cuban american congressional delegation. he has the firepower down in south florida. he has been very aggressive courting the voters. he remains very strong and jacks t -- in jacksonville. one of the stops it is the villages, a central florida mega-retirement community. he is supported by the developer of that community. mitt romney has a lot of advantages in the state. he has outspent newt gingrich by millions and millions of dollars. through his campaign in the super pac. he has been campaigning here essentially since 2007. he has the best crown came in 2008 and did not pay of

you can see that mitt romney did extremely well in jacksonville, for myers, and panama city.did ok in orlando, better in tampa, not very well in miami and fort lauderdale. this is from 2008. he lost the state debt john mccain with an all-important endorsement by charlie crist. that helped john mccain in his win over mitt romney. what changed four years later? guest: a couple things. primarily in south florida where mitt romney has spent a lot of time and a lot of big- name endorsements, essentially all the cuban american congressional delegation. he has the firepower down in south florida. he has been very aggressive courting the voters. he remains very strong and jacks t -- in jacksonville. one of the stops it is the villages, a central florida mega-retirement community. he is supported by the developer of that community. mitt romney has a lot of advantages in the state. he has outspent newt gingrich by millions and millions of dollars. through his campaign in the super pac. he has been campaigning here essentially since 2007. he has the best crown came in 2008 and did not p

this time, they signed up people like the speaker from panama city and the former house speaker., the former state party chairman and the state senator from the jacksonville area -- very involved on behalf of governor romney. the former party chairman here, now president of the american conservative union, was very involved with the romney campaign, for severelyparticulac leadership. our path was to get the governor known here. one of the challenges of 2008 is that the resources were not there and it made it much more difficult to campaign in a state the size and extent of florida. this time the romney campaign has wisely planned to invest resources in florida and they did so early. three to four weeks prior to the florida primary and before the south carolina contest they were on the ground, running advertising, and a top-notch team. they had all the pieces in place to run a successful effort. >> we have a comment on twitter -- host: let's hear from port richey, florida. caller: how are you? host: good, thanks. caller: gramm -- my grandfather cook for 12 presidents of the united

panhandle, pensacola and panama city and tallahassee where there are few republican votes. the panhandle tends to have a lot of military retirees. john mccain trained at the naval air station there and had a significant turnout among military retirees in 2008. the romney campaign has had to focus time and energy into the panhandle and you have dade county, miami-dade county and broward county, tremendous amount of voters in the primary and general election. and the bulk of the hispanic votes. that area was carried 3-1 by mccain over romney and you have seen the romney mccain invest resources and going after the vote in dade and broward counties. four critical regions of the state in the republican primary. 16 counties make up about 70% of the vote here. and you really see resources targeted towards those areas. host: we have been looking at a graphic by the "washington post" laying out the political geography of florida. marie is on the democrats' line. caller: i would like to make two comments to your guest. my first comment is social security is not a ponzi scheme. i'm so